 It's uncompromising, addictive and often unforgiving with an adrenaline rush like no other. There is no practice, no second chances. It's the ultimate motorsport competition on gravel. It is rallying and this is the East Coast Bullbars Australia Rally Championship. Round four of the national championship and round ten of the World Rally Championship coming to you from Coats Hire, Coffs Coast Rally Australia. In today's program, Polaris and Kanan continue their battle in the Australian side-by-side series. Michael Guest is on the pace with the extra power of the turbo-haverick but hasn't got the reliability to match the Polaris Razor at this all-important round in the Australian side-by-side challenge. Play that knock with spearhead the classic clash while Malkiyo reignites group B fever in his period-perfect outing for a show. And of course we'll feature the Armourall STP Power Stage in the outright championship and four-wheel drive national series with the opportunity for some early bonus points. The outright and four-wheel drive teams have the chance to bag five extra points before the rally has even begun and with just one qualifying run it is all on the line. There are no second chances facing off with your opposition to decide who gets the extra five points. Our resident rally expert Dean Herridge has discovered in the outright championship those power stage points are critical. This round is all about the STP and Armourall Power Stage as our teams try and qualify to get into the final and take those bonus points. At the moment Eli Evans and Glenn Wesson on the line in their Citroen they lead the championship. They're fighting for five points if they can win this stage which doesn't sound like a lot but have a think about this Eli leads the championship by eight points over Mollie Taylor. That's all that's in it. Mollie has yet to qualify for one of these stages. Eli on the other hand has won two of them. There's ten points in itself, a hugely important stage and we're very excited about this one at Rally Australia. As Dean has just said Mollie Taylor in the Renault Clio again failed to fire last round missing the power stage but Eli Evans in the Citroen DS3 was the dominant force beating his brother Simon in the Honda Jazz in a do or die effort. Tony Sullins was a very close bird. In ballwheel drive it was Mark Pedder who despite all the dramas of getting the new Peugeot Maxi car to run at full power snatched victory in the national series from the Mitsubishi's of Michael Bailey and Gerald Schofield. At the Coats Hire Cops Coase Rally this year we're using the same course as 2014 beginning with a long straight off the start line to introduce the humps that are a feature of this stage. After a tight left at the Coats corner it's down across three humps to the first split at the Can Am Crumps. The second sector has been graded this year so it's a fast entry through Kumo Curve to Polaris Pass and the third and final sector. The second chance to stretch their legs comes downhill through the STP Speedtrap before cars enter a wide sweeper and the finish line that comes up at 2.4 kilometres. We've let Cody Crocker have a run in his Polaris Razor so he can tell us what he thinks. A special guest driver. Cody Crocker three times Australian rally champ but also side by side reigning champion. You've done the course run on the STP and Emerald Power Stage. Tell us what it is like out there. She's good fun from memory from last year. There's a few pretty good crests in there and good jumps which are going to be for the power stage you've just got to go flat out to Polaris and try and get that extra half a second. If you can get it and someone else doesn't you're going to make that time get those five points. So a few treacherous corners out there. Some pretty good stuff on the excess of corners. There's a few stumps on the outsides hanging out there so you always want to keep it tidy. Depending where we are this is, as you say, the same power stage as last year. Sometimes it changes around a little bit. Dragon has an advantage for the drivers who have done it last year. The seniors that have been here before. Yeah, definitely. There's a few corners. I call it the last two corners actually. It's ready in the needle to the finish. It's quite narrow but you can get it really quickly. So if you've had a go at it at pace, then you sort of work out you can get a bit faster next time. This year they'll be a bit quicker. From what I remember, this is a bit of an all-or-nothing stage. It's bumpy, it's tight as fast. This has got the light you could say. Yeah, and it's going to get quite cut up too. There's a few spots that are a bit powdery. Particularly going into one of the jumps there is actually powdery on the entry already so you can see that they're going to dig some holes. It'll make the jump bigger as the day goes on. That could be interesting for our four-wheel drives and outright cars. Before you go, what you don't realise when you do the power stage, your crew want me to give you this. This is the Tirephone to make sure you sparkle this up now that you've got it dirty. This is a bit dusty. Look, a good boy scout's always prepared, mate. Oh, are you kidding me? Here's one I had prepared earlier. Oh, he's B-Y-O'd at Rusty. Can you believe that? He's bought his own product. I can't believe it. He's jumped me over to you, Rusty, to recap all the qualifying highlights. Can't wait for this. Thank you, Dean. A couple of former teammates there and the driving never stops. 20 cars lined up to try their chances. In four-wheel drive, the competition is tight and the slightest error was a knockout blow as Irishman JJ Hatton discovered. A great performance by Andrew Penny got him into the fastest five, but it wasn't enough. Likewise, the last round winner, Mark Pedder, his frustrations continued with the Maxi car not delivering anything like its potential out of the three in fourth place. Surprisingly, no Justin Dowell in the mix, a power steering pump failure in the Hyundai Proto. The only thing that separated the elder statesman of four-wheel drive, Gerald Scofield, and his adversary, Michael Bailey, was Guy Tyler. Half their age and with plenty of determination, Tyler showed why he's leading the South Australian State Championship, but all just outside the cut. No jumpstart for Mick Patton this round, the normally fast, smooth Repco Evo 10 wasn't the quickest, but did make the final. Round two, when a Marcus Walkham blasted out of the box to record second fastest time in the Trigonier City Foods Evo 9, despite driving it without haste notes after forgetting to plug in the intercom. It was the blistering pace of Peter Roberts in the older model Mitsubishi, who caught them all napping, though, posting P1 in the final. So Mick Patton will face off with Marcus Walkham and Peter Roberts in the hunt for bonus points in the Armourall STP Power Stage right after this. Welcome back to the East Coast Bullbars Australian Rally Championship, being held on the Cops Coast. Perfect conditions for our Armourall STP Power Stage and the first of our four-wheel drive finalists. Ready to go. After a very tight qualifying for four-wheel drives, here's our number three qualifiers and championship leaders in actual fact, Mick Patton and Bernie Webb, out here on the Power Stage. Always good fun, mate. Yeah, good way to start the event off. This is the first one we've got into. I think we went about three seconds early in Queensland on the jumpstart, but it was had strict instructions to go on about three seconds after the minute this time, but yeah, now it's good. Nice little stage and looking forward to it. Tight battle amongst the four-wheel drive, some tight numbers in there. Yeah, it was good. The boys all came to play, which is a nice thing, and then we've got a nice large field as well. It was about 16, 17 cars, so yeah, it should be a good weekend looking forward to it. How are you tackling this one? It is tricky. I think it's one of those things. The big picture is that, you know, this weekend's the big points gainer, but nah, we'll have a crack, yeah, for sure. We'll give it our best. Good luck, eh, mate? Go for it. Thank you. Qualified with a one-minute 41.11. We're remembering too, for this combination, that the title, the four-wheel drive title, is starting to get tantalisingly close. So Bernie Webb has already called this weekend for Mick Patton to think about the championship, play the long game. First of our splits, coming up. Three coats, higher corner. It's a great snapshot, this stage, of what the competitors can expect in the full rally. It's got a little bit of everything. That's our first-sector split, Can-Am. We lays down the benchmark. Pumped to be in the power stage, but it's the weekend that's his focus. Had a gearbox issue these guys last time out. They've been to shift the cable, and it tried to grab two gears, so they've sorted that this time out. Has been back to race talk for a fresh enough, in-point rounds. Second-sector at Polaris. A strict tyre management strategy for the weekend as well. Looks tidy so far. He's got a great philosophy about not binning it in the first 300 metres, Mick Patton. He wants to keep it tidy and straight for the rest of this event. It's tidy, it's not radical. It's a nice clean run from Mick Patton, and a 1 minute 40.360 gains 8 tenths compared to his qualifying run. Good work. Yeah, it was real good. Missed a couple of areas and lost a couple of seconds on two things in a stage that's this tight and this close. It might be costly, but they might have the same mistakes as well, but now it was a nice smooth run and warm-up for the weekend. Take a look at some of the highlights here. They've raised this car a little bit in set-up terms to deal with the cost-harbour stage. They're a bit aggressive and you need a car that can cope well, ride the bumps here. Getting set for our second competitor now, back to Dean. Walk on Brothers are back in second fastest qualifiers in the full-wheel drive. Great job, guys. Time's pretty good for no intercom or having a few issues, so that gives you a bit of confidence going into here. Yeah, I think if we clean things up a bit and we've got some notes, we might be able to do a bit better. Alright, so focus. A bit of early nerves in the early part of the qualifying maybe. Yeah, nice to have that happen today. Yeah, so we'll get it out of the way. Well, like I said, good time, though, considering those dramas. Good luck through here. Mick Patton, about half a second quicker, so there's a little bit of time in there to be had, but it's all close amongst you guys. Good luck, eh? Thanks, Dean, eh? I like this stage, the Walkins. They've done it reverse in the reverse direction in testing. Fast and open to begin with this stage. It is powdery in part because of the running in the reverse direction in testing and run it in others. In 200. Significant change for these guys. Between rounds, they've gone from Owlans to Riga. Suspension, a lot softer in setup and it's had a really positive effect on the car. Haven't driven since Canberra several months back. They're up, good work. Compared to Mick Patton and Bernie Webb, the time these guys laid down in qualifying a one minute 40.41 was almost on par with the run that Mick Patton and Bernie Webb just did. So if they can replicate that, they're in the game here. They're in the mix. Gone up in the right heights. These guys as well. They've got the car gone hammered here in this event in 2014. We go to Polaris and look at the advantage. That's significant. You can tell it's a bit more aggressive. It's a bit easier in the way that Marcus Walkum is attacking here compared to Mick Patton's. Doesn't sound like there's an intercom issue this time around. They did have one as Dean said there before on the first run. Good job. You can hear all of the calls on that basis. We're near the finish of the Armoral Power Stage. There's the marker. They've got to beat. And smashes it at 37.04. Almost three seconds faster than his first qualifier. That's awesome. Car's good. I'm happy with my time. I'm happy the car's in one place ready for tomorrow. So Petty can do better than he's a deserved winner. He said it's a nice honour to qualify for the Power Stage earlier in the weekend. But they're eyeing up a podium this pair at Rally's end. It looked good. It looked fast. But you can see how smooth it also looks. What powdery in some sections here and quicker. Better than last year. So we have a change. That's our new leader in the four wheel drive section. We'll grab a commercial break. Come back with more from Cofs Coast right after this. You're watching the East Coast Bullbars Australian Rally Championship coming to you from Cofs Cofs Rally Australia. Our man Dean Herridge is with the fastest qualifier in the four wheel drive. Armoral STP Power Stage. Fastest qualifiers. What a great run. Peter Roberts did a demon time through there. But I've got to say Walkers are just in a 137 dead. They've taken a couple of seconds out. So you're going to have to pick the pace up a little bit from qualifying. Well, there was a bit of confusion when we did the recce and we actually did the power stage down the road. And then when we got back we were told we did the wrong one and then we only got two quick sort of rushed runs before the stage closed. So I was really only checking it the first time through. Okay, well that's good. We like that fighting talk there. That was your check run. So you've done your recce run on the qualifying. So you think you've got some time in you here? Yeah, well we'll have to push to match him I think anyway. Okay, well we like that fighting talk. Go for it guys. Good luck. Thanks for qualifying. Can't wait to see this one. And very quickly Rusty have a look at this. Most people would want to be on the driveline. He has purposely chosen to be on the loose stuff. He obviously plans to light this thing up off the line. Thanks team. Watch this pairing. Robert is a four minute South Wales state champion in 2011. Quietly spoken there with Dean before. A rise smile. They know they've got pace in this car. What a challenge though to have hardly any time to properly note it before coming in to tackle the power stage. Listen to it. Light up off the corner. Okay. That was second behind John Mitchell in the 2013 Coffs Coast event. Largely does state rallies and rally sprints here in New South Wales. Look at how much he's found in that first sector. Great work. Those of you that are passionate enthusiasts might recognize this car. He acquired it at the end of 2007. It actually belonged to Michael Bowden and Michael does a lot of the preparation on this Evo. Oh, that's nicely done. Continues to light it up and the sectors reflect that. A 59. He is flying relative to Walkham. They won four-wheel drive in Queensland. That was last year. Had a few issues though with a cam angle sensor problem. They've got a new Hollinger gearbox in this car and it's working superbly. He's taken lots of things out of the car too. Only 10 litres of fuel on board no spare tyres. He is attacking Peter Roberts and Andrew Crowley. We're nearly at the end of the stage. He's going to absolutely blitz this. A 35-4. Walkham's was a 37-04. Roberts has smashed it. That was good. Yes. I was thinking it was going to be debut. We took another couple of seconds off on our original time but unfortunately we found it. We take a look here on the Kumo replay. And beautiful. Applies the horsepower. It has more horsepower now this car in excessive 200 with the work they've done in recent time and he used it to good effect Peter Roberts. To present the power stage winner's check former series champion Cody Crocker. Congratulations the check's there. You had it in your eyes on the start line when I spoke to you. I think you really wanted to get this one didn't you? Well, if you win qualifying I guess you want to win the first run I guess you want to win the second run. Yeah. But the thing was you took off like a score of cat and I could hear you punching through the gears I think it was game on from the time that flag dropped. You just had like I said I think you had the eyes on. Well when you said that Marcus took two seconds off I thought I'll have to have a bit of a go here otherwise I'm not going to get anywhere near you. Perfect start to the power stage for Peter Roberts. A great way to kick off his rally Australia experience. Back to Dean and Cody. Cody Crockett what a run from the four-wheel drive so we're giving it absolutely everything. Super quick in there absolutely super quick some pretty rough roads in there so it's a bit of a challenge and as a lot of them are saying it's a very technical stage probably the most technical of the whole event it's just the power stage before they even start. What a way to start it all. Now the challenge is we're about to get underway with our two-wheel drive outright category cars what are the challenges going to be for those guys compared to what we just saw with four-wheel drive? Yeah it's always a bit of a luxury drive in the four-wheel drive that coming out of the ground obviously. So the two-wheel drives here it's getting a bit cut up a bit dusty and powdery on the exits of corners and a few ruts you've got to keep those two-wheels in that driving area in the best part of the road it's not about choosing your lines and using the edge of the road you've just got to look for those ruts and find your best grip lines. So you can pinpoint accuracy on a really tough tricky stage? Absolutely you've got to keep it nice and neat and tidy that's going to be the key. And you've got to get in of course Rusty over to you for the qualifying highlights for the outright cars. Thanks guys well Dean's comments earlier about the importance of the arm wall power stage came home to Rusty in qualifying. Eli Evans crashed out in spectacular fashion just after Peter's pinch. Too fast into a right hand it was some stumps on the outside and just yeah no real warning signs just made a mistake I think Glenn picked up that we might have been going a little bit too fast but I didn't see it so he was right in this instance because he repeated the note as we came in I acknowledge that I knew what it was and I still got it wrong so tail between the legs unfortunately the cars are not too good boys have got a lot of work to do. For Team Citroen the priority now would be focusing on getting the car repaired in time for the main rally beginning in less than 24 hours time. Molly Taylor's and Tony Sullen's runs were interrupted by the Citroen crash so they were granted a second qualifier and both managed to make the cut. Adrian Coppin on the other hand missed his first final all year edged out by Taylor by less than two tenths of a second in her finals debut. The Simon Evans though who set the benchmark in the tank former's Honda Jazz at one minute 40.95 his and Sullen's times were the only sub 145 efforts in qualifying so Molly Taylor Tony Sullen's and Simon Evans are all through to the final Armoural STP power stage. All that and we return in just a few moments. Everybody looking for the bird's eye view at the East Coast Bullbars Australian Rally Championship coming to you from the Coats Hire Cops Coast Rally our third fastest qualifier in the Armoural STP power stages on the line and standing by with Dean Herridge. Just making it into our final here first time in the power station Molly Taylor well done for getting in how you feeling right now? Thank you very much it is nice to finally get in definitely our goal this morning what we wanted to do so now we I guess our goals achieved we qualified so that was the first step so now we just need to get a good rhythm for the rally and where we finish where we finish well you're now getting points you guarantee points but obviously you want to get as maximum amount as you can Eli's obviously not going to be in the final after his accident qualifying so chance in the championship game to really capitalise certainly we need all the points I think that the focus is doing a good job inside the car and what happens around you you can't control that anyway for your first final how's it feeling you're nervous there's always been a nervous there's more nervous before the qualifier now I feel a little bit more relaxed good luck for this run thank you actually done some car racing in the number 24 hour event in Lithuania driving a BMW but she's focused on what she loves the most and that is rallying underway and slide left over half okay Bill Hayes doing the race Bill Hayes great on the notes and really instills some confidence give reassurance if you like to Molly Taylor on that throttle nice and early out of the turn remember this is a normally aspirated car different to the Citroen a lot of fun to drive but you've got to be aggressive you've got to push the Renault Clio we have the benchmark effort at the Can-Am split late four left plus 15 small test in Canberra for this outfit in the lead up not a huge amount of changes to the car and long three right plus one thing they have worked on is brake balance in recent events help Molly lean on this car four left right left right on crash qualified with a one minute 45.25 at Polaris that's our second split into three loves the team that she's working with now the plates crew they're all a real group of enthusiasts but with great results in their pedigree very different to some of the European teams that she's worked with in the past four left check the STP speed trap for you as well 134Ks an hour there could work 15 long 15 long slide right is four left opens look at that nicely done beautiful lines from Molly Taylor and it's a 44 and she improves by 6 tenths on her qualifying effort nice work on the rear in the rear by I reckon could almost go a little bit more front that actually felt really good to me but the time I don't know whether we're losing a bit up the hill at the start or it felt good to us and that run felt better than our qualifying run but it was only a second on us but you know we've got a good feeling in the car and it's a long rally so there you go so they have talked about a potential throttle position sensor issue with this car and it running a little bit rich down lower times is that a factor will they need to work on that over the rest of the event on balance it did look like a very good run how will it stack up a 144 64 what a magic run through a qualifier mate you were very pleased with that I'm very happy indeed I had a bit of a go and it's paid off the stage like this it is tricky and narrow and there's no real rhythm in there does that suit you I wouldn't have thought not generally but that's a good run yeah not generally you're right but I sort of had a bit of a mental have a go and push myself a little bit so yeah Molly's got a second quicker but obviously she was a little bit off if I have a good run I might be able to crack under the 40s but it'll need to be perfect it's more than like if I cock it up it'll be a 45 so I don't know how hard to push but we'll go as fast as I'm dare we're aiming for a perfect run then that's what I want to see mate yeah me too with a one minute 41.8 in qualifying so very close to the 40s gets off the line beautifully they were happy with this car in Queensland but the water and he felt Tony that it didn't give them a chance to fully show the car's potential all busy there he was busy the wheel and that's important what he had to say there about over boosting the suggestion in the lead up to this round is that he had an over boosting problem they've got a new turbo on order and the over boosting kind of makes it feel like a miss in the engine it keeps cutting in and out that could hurt him in this power stage looks fast there he's clearly trying to drive around the issue it's a really gnarly stage this one in better road condition than last year that was Tony's observation on the notes bit powdery in parts running in a few places got to be patient in the corners look at that there versus Molly Taylor so in the second sector the Citroen drivers had a good run and made some key gains a little bit stiffer in the rear suspension with this car as well two kilometres an hour quicker at the STP speed trap it's not much but it is an advantage beautiful driving through there Tony Sullins squares it up nicely for the run home and look at that a 41-2-8 every time it come on boost it over it was missing and it must hit the boost cut and then stop and every time I was pulling up a hill it actually was going slower so that will be an issue for them for the rest of the rally as well hopefully they can find a way to get on top of it as we take a look he was busy at his hands full bear and he discovered at this point the over boosting problem had resurfaced cracking time from Tony Sullins and worthy of the top spot for now will Simon Evans be able to knock him off we'll have to wait and see right after the break for all STP power stage from Coatshire Rally Australia on the beautiful Cops Coast Tony Sullins and Julia Barkley retain their top spot and outright two-wheel drive Dean Herridge is on the start line fastest qualifiers and winning the power stage in Perth they're back Simon Evans Ben Sisi well done for qualifying make good job through there I think there's a tricky bit of road that one I love Cops Harbour but jeez you've got to have your wits about you out there it's obviously caught your brother and you've had great rivalry through these power stages so points up for grabs big weekend coming up now we've got Tony Sullins he's now the fastest time he went about 0.6 faster had a few little issues in there not a perfect run so it's not as fast as you're qualifying can you match it up though and back it up I said to Ben at the end of the qualifying run I don't think we'll be able to go any quicker than that one so look hopefully I can keep it neat like we just we were just really relaxed and focused you know and the car was the Honda Jazz was just amazing it just felt so confident at the stage so hopefully we can back it up let's see how this one goes Rusty can't wait for it no brother rivalry but Simon Evan the full flight as you know Dino he is Mr. Excitement in this game and qualified the only driver in the 1 minute 40s everyone else 1.41s and above good start by Evans you can sense that he's aware Tony Sullins has stepped things up when it comes to the power stage game gotta be super committed this year limited spaces in the power stage you've gotta attack it but not over commit listen to that Honda Jazz maxed out on the RPM and he gets plenty of air over the humps 33.09 it's not much but it is an advantage he's trying to get that front suspension to settle under braking so he can get it turned little powdery through here it's controlled aggression from Simon Evans a joy to watch now to the Polaris slip he builds on it but again it's only tenths of seconds this has been a good run from Tony Sullins but attacking style from Simon Evans that proves it lots of wheel spin there on the run up the little hill trying to look over the nose of the car a little bit of air that front left 137 km an hour good speed from Evans and CSE in the Honda beautifully done through there this is gonna be close Evans or Sullins who will get there at the line? Evans does it Evans wins the power stage and how's this? his time is only three hundredths of a second quicker than his qualifying effort that's consistency battle time 0.3 we were trying hard not a lot in it though not a lot in it well done mate I was driving my heart out that's good I was having a go too sporting stuff from those guys but it's really ramped up in the power stage the competitiveness so there's some perfect moments from Simon Evans he wins the stage but crucially it's not by much we've got a heck of a game on our hands when it comes to these Armourall power stages now in the championship Cody Crocker will present him with the Armourall STP winners check what a great run through the power stage mate we're on the line there you said it's like sort of trying to sort of dive through those last sections on the knife edge well done I was really I said to you on the start line I'd be worried about trying to beat my first time and we did by a few tenths of a second so I'm happy about that it is hard it's really tough out there it's a very tricky stage the Honda Jazz just shone through it was so easy to drive through it so I was happy time now to wind back the rally clock Neil Bates missed his second event for the year after a suspected blunt clot had him sidelined before the flag had even dropped once again the sister car from the same stable in the hands of last round winners Clay Badnoch and Andrew Dunbar was left to fight with a raft of makes and models in the classic field Phil Casper opened the account with a win for Ford his air squad one second quicker over the eight kilometres the next stage fell to the RX-7 of Ivan Voberden and Mark Malpus from Brisbane in their first rally Australia he had Badnoch's measured by 11 seconds through the 16 kilometres of Bakers Creek but it was short-lived after cutting a corner next stage it's all the front right hub off caliper and all Casper had Badnoch again in SS3 but by later in the day would provide no further challenge for the silica driver Brett Stevens continued to push him though in his Nissan Bluebird while Matthew Leining made his presence felt through the first day but slipped off the leaderboard in the first stage of day two that left the way open for Lindsay Collitz who was finally realising a dream in his DATO 1A2B up to third this is our home event it's not going to get any closer the first stage started right next to my house so we better get off our tails and do it another local Troy O'Dowarty was doing it as well in his TR-7 but a rogue Conrod let loose in his V8 spilling the end of his rally Australia Mikko Hagen had a blinder through the long 50k stage second fastest behind the yellow silica but he's dropped out of contention on day one with alternator Fadja now after a moment in Nambaka the Irishman was questioning just how lucky his favourite colour really was I'm starting to believe that Greenton unlucky colour for a car and eye so we've got nothing but baller this weekend but maybe a respray luck also wasn't on Brett Steven's side distracted by a myriad of niggling issues to date now stuck in the main street of Vowrabill with a self-imposed service promptly dropping him to fifth the gearbox just locked up as soon as we went from first to second turning right to that intersection and see a quick removal of the tail shaft so we weren't sitting in the main street and we're away a couple of early model four-wheel drive occasional entries unable to qualify for classics were also circulating for their benefit and the crowds Kim Ackworth sporting the factory pro-drive super Liberty colours from the early 90s and an Audi Quattro in its 80s period livery scoring points has nothing to do with why Malchio was out rallying one of these famous Group B cars driven in their day by the very best those guys were absolutely amazing you just don't realise I was very, very pig headed from time to time but like I say it's just getting there and but yeah the roles and the matins unbelievable the third and final day opened with Buck along and Lindsay Collins chances of making the finish of his rally weren't sounding good Robert Clark's Mach 1 Escort sounded fine but he never looked right from the start after a pre-event bingle mind you he and co-driver Jennifer were at every stage of the event Keith Fackerel crept up in another Escort an immaculate Mark 2 that by the end of the event had secured him second outright it was Clay Badenock though with Andrew Dunbar pointing the way that laid claim to the top spot this round now with an unassailable lead in the classic series for 2015 next it's the Australian side-by-side challenge Polaris versus Canair again the battle continues right after the break three of the side-by-side challenge where the fastest of these machines in the world gather to pick themselves against each other Polaris versus Canair two manufacturers toughing it out in a competitive environment with top rally drivers Cody Crocker and Michael guest at the wheels alongside the privateers it's been a seesaw battle as each manufacturer in 2014 the new RAZR 1000 made life very tough for the Maverick but then Canair introduced their turbo machine and the tables returned Michael guest winning every stage he finished round three continued the trend guest and co-driver David Green led the way for Canair through the opening stage Crocker was two seconds behind for Polaris without an intercom next stage he was driving blind taking the edge off his pace and opening the way for Polaris it was the chink in the armour though that has stopped the Mavericks clean march this year but again forced early retirement for the Canair ambassador some reason other were just had an issue with that clutch belt so we're just looking at that now and getting set up ready for tomorrow whenever you pull a new machine out and put it into motorsport at that level you always going to find there's a few little things you need to massage his teammate Nathan Shivers bearing conscious of his own machine's weakness yeah I guess it's always in the back of your head I mean these do have a belt drive and I think what's going on with Michael he's trying an aftermarket one and it hasn't been working out so he's going to go back to the stock one which I've been running the whole time and haven't had the belt issues so hopefully that'll be the end of belt issues for Michael because he ripped it up this morning he got the fastest stage time and did really well so he'll be back out tomorrow and hopefully keep Cody honest but the commentators cursed struck and the anglo-moyle turbo-maverick broke a belt very next stage just half a K from the finish and it was almost all downhill luck was on their side through the same stage Ian Hughes showed his more experienced teammate there was no slaps behind the wheel Cody Crocker set the fastest time at 5 minutes 49.5 Hughes and David Piper finished just one second behind the three-time Australian rally champion in fact by the end of the day the repeat run through Northbank Hughes took the stage win by 0.6 of a second next morning he revealed his own secret with the clutch in his razor belt trouble we haven't been having any but we've since found playing with clutches can make a big difference and open to us so we've been changing weights and that sort of thing to try and get it at maximum RPM quicker hold it at maximum RPM quicker over in Temworth it was working fine everything was working unreal yesterday morning I found over at Coffs here was hitting the rev limiter so I was losing a bit of time there so I've had a play with the yesterday harbour and now everything seems to be spot on over here so it's good the long 50 kilometre stage was always going to be a test for man and machine stamina and tyres are usually the issues for rally teams in long stages no issues for tyres in the side by sides or stamina for the drivers this stage but the test would be on the drive train Ian Hughes passed nearly a minute slower than his teammate Crocker but both were home for a 1-2 for Polaris Nathan Shivers couldn't match the Polaris pace in his maverick but it was the lone flag flying for Can-Am after the factory driver again suffered from the drive belt overheating the frantic overnight modification saw guest service crew shield the belt from the hot exhaust to rejoin for the final day just feet oh really yeah so that's too much throttle or I like to think it's character building actually so yeah I've got a bit of a gremlin in the car here that we need to sort out and we've got the no doubt we've won every stage this year when we haven't had some sort of an issue so you know it's the fastest in the world and we just go to saw that little gremlin out and put it back down and make it all happen and he did with careful management of speed and therefore lower exhaust temperature through the first stage of the day Michael guest was again back on the pace comfortably matching the Polaris razors the weekend win was an all Polaris affair though and when Cody Crocker will lead to watch from inside his own camp a hard charging Ian Hughes has certainly come driving these machines in a rally environment Nathan shivers secured a birth for Can-Am on the podium Michael guest will be back for sure to square the scorecard for Can-Am at the final round in South Australia Stay tuned next week for all the action from the main competition the East Coast Bullbars Australian Rally Championship coming to you from the Cotes Higher Cops Coast Rally Australia I hope you can join us in the meantime keep up with all the latest news on our website rally.com.au Today's coverage is made possible by Kumo Tai and a suspension Armour STP Cotes Higher Can-Am Polaris and our supporting partner East Coast Bullbars World's Best Alloy Bullbars